26 Below 32
by Bubbly88Tay
Summary: Jay had been shot, had nearly drowned, had to find a kidnapped child and had developed a touch of hypothermia, and he just wasn't sure how much worse the day could get. Just three chapters of shameless Jay whump!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello there! How are you all? Good? Good! So, this is my newest multi chaptered fic. This idea is something I haven't seen yet in this Chicago PD community so I am really excited for all of your reactions to this story! **

**I'm sorry if this note seems weird, I'm sick, and I am currently caring and being a mother to a four week (just a guess) old kitten. Hr name is Jesse Jay Lindsay. You are all smart enough to figure that one out for yourselves.**

**A HUGE HEARTY Thank You to Journalism13. I know I am not the easiest person to work with at all, but you do your best and you do an awesome job at it! Thank you so much my favoritest beta!**

**Anyways. Regular disclaimers apply. I do not own anybody that you recognize and even some that you don't, and everything medical wise here is probably wrong and false. **

**Good luck! AND ENJOY!**

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Erin rounded the corner, her partner, Jay Halstead, following hot on her heels, watching her six. She would have loved to have her whole team watching her back as she continued to plow through the giant warehouse, but it was indeed a large warehouse which could have been a shipping center for a major company at one time.

It was piled from floor to ceiling with trash, and somewhere, within the depths of all this trash, was a little girl. But Erin knew they were all going to go upstairs together, so she calmed down and continued.

The little girl was 9 year old Jennifer Garcia. She was kidnapped from school around 9 in the morning during an armed kidnapping which had left many, parents, teachers and students scared. The kidnappers had busted into the school, their guns drawn, and shot down anyone in their paths. Four children, all 9 and 10 years old, a janitor, and the assistant principal had been shot. No one had died, though the assistant principal and a nine year old little boy were still in critical but stable condition.

The majority of the morning was spent with the 21st Chicago Police Precinct Intelligence unit doing all they could to find any link to where this girl was now, or even why she was taken. Tensions rose like normal when a case like this popped up. It hit close to home for some as well.

Alvin had his own daughter kept at the back of his mind for motivational purposes. Voight with the kindness and compassion he showed only to children. Jay with his own experiences of children who had died far too young, and dealing with those who had killed them.

It was around noon and the Intelligence unit, for the first time all morning, had a lead on the four men who had decided to kidnap the girl. It was really a fluke of luck in Erin's opinion, that she had stumbled across the fact that Jennifer was adopted. Instead of being a Garcia, Jennifer was at one point in her short life a Cruz. In fact, Jay was able to track down exactly who her father and mother were.

Hernando and Penelope Cruz. Penelope had died earlier that year when Hernando decided to 'quit' a gang he was affiliated with, the Latin Kings. In the process of doing so, he had stolen over a million dollars in 'King's' money, and now the gang was out for revenge. Penelope had been shot down by a few members of the gang in a drive by shooting, and Hernando went ape shit, going and killing three high ranking members of the gang before he was apprehended by the police.

Voight and Olinsky went to interrogate Hernando and had come back around two.

With information.

"Alright, so we are fairly certain that this is gang related. Hernando conveniently misplaces one mil, then decides to quit The Kings. If we think it's suspicious, then we can assume The Kings did. So they went after his wife." Olinsky started, posting two photos on the board. The rest of the Intelligence unit turned their chairs and bodies towards the whiteboard, stopping what they were doing to get everyone on the same page.

"So they went after Jennifer?" Ruzek asked, pointing to the first picture they had posted on the board. It was a picture of a beautiful little girl. She had long, curly brown hair with hazel skin that glowed with the innocence of a child. Her almond eyes stared up at the camera, willing the photographer to smile.

"That's what Mr. Cruz is thinking." Voight replied from his perch on Lindsay's desk.

"But the adoption was closed, no way could they have gotten that information. We barely got that information." Antonio objected from across the room, near the stairs where he laid against the wall.

"Dude, its The King's we're talking about. They have someone on the inside everywhere." Jay said, not turning from the board as he studied it. "I have a CI that's in on The King's, he gave me a call earlier and said that he might know who one of the men who kidnapped Jennifer is." Jay got up and walked to the door and taped a photo of a small, but well-built hispanic man, an earring hanging out of his left ear, and a scar right above his right eye. "Elido Rico."

"Do you have an address?" Voight asked.

Jay nodded as he turned back to Voight. Voight rolled the information in his head and went with it.

"It's the only thing we got, vest up. We leave in two minutes."

Just like that, the merry band of misfits jumped into action. Grabbing their coats, and the coats to go over their coats, the team left the precinct.

Like normal, they didn't have a warrant to warrant their way into a situation of just grabbing the man, and running him back to the precinct, but all the rules flew out the window the moment Jay began to pound on his door, Erin, Ruzek, and Antonio behind him. Alvin and Olinsky deciding to run around and cover the back.

Moments later, bullets ripped through the walls, windows, and doors of the rundown shack-like building. Jay yelped but quickly dived backwards along with the rest of the Intelligence unit.

It was a mad dash for cover, and as soon as cover was established the team began to fire back. Over the radios they heard the faint call from Voight to cease fire and they all did. Moments later, the gunshots stopped completely. The team began to stand up from their awkward cover positions. Antonio stood up from behind the metal trash can, Erin bounced up from behind the unfortunate car that happened to be at the end of the driveway, and Ruzek and Jay slowly walked back from around the house.

The four looked each other over, and Erin wasn't blind to the blood that was running down Halsteads left arm and into the good foot of snow beneath him. Jay saw the looks of his companions.

"The amount of coats I have on probably saved my arm from any more damage. Just a scratch." Jay commented.

Erin walked over to help remove the jackets while Antonio and Ruzek busted through the front door only to come face to face with Olinsky and Voight's unconventional way of making someone talk. They quickly ran back out of the house and went to call for backup and somewhere along the lines, an ambulance.

"It's not that bad." Jay griped as Erin continued to push against his still bleeding triceps.

"Yea, well we will just let a medical professional be the boss of that shall we?" Erin asked, not really looking for an answer.

"At least let me put a jacket back on." Jay asked, the only thing protecting his arms and torso being a light long sleeved shirt.

Erin rolled her eyes.

"You know, for a man who served in Afghanistan, you sure do complain about the cold a lot."

"Contrary to popular belief, you don't just learn to live with the cold, you learn how to battle it. How to keep warm- ow!"

Jay's rant was cut short with Lindsay pressing down just a little bit harder on the wound.

True to his word, all the medics had to do was wrap the deep gouge, with a hint of advice to go with them and get it stitched up. After signing the waiver, Jay quickly wrapped himself back up in his jackets and walked over to the group of detectives surrounding the house, specifically, his team.

"So what did you all get?" Jay addressed the question to Voight and Olinsky, but it was Antonio who answered.

"How are you?"

"Really?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow, and letting a small smirk play through.

"Forget it." Antonio replied, and Voight looked Halstead up and down then shrugged.

"We might have a location on the girl's whereabouts." Voight answered.

Jay's head leaned forwards a bit, and his eyebrows rose substantially as he squinted his eyes together. "Than what the hell are we still doing here?" Voight gave him a warning look, than continued on.

"The address he gave doesn't exist. But the area he listed is a warehouse district, and there are two buildings in the area that describe where he and his boys took Jennifer. We were waiting for you, we need all the manpower we can get." Jay accepted this answer, then went to turn to Erin's car when Voight's hand wrapped around Jay's uninjured upper right arm. "Can you shoot a gun?" He asked Halstead seriously.

"Always sir."

That was around 5:30 pm.

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**SO what did you all think? Want the rest of this story? Well, fortunately for you all, this story is already finished. The next chapter will be posted this weekend and then we will see about the last two chapters. **

**Another thing I have been up to. If you like injured Erin and Jay, I suggest you go check out Say Something by Bubbly Belle I am the co author of that story, and I am so excited for it and how it will turn out! **

**So if you guys all want to leave a review, that would be fantastic, they make my heart flutter and make me feel so much better. So please please please? **

**Yes? Thanks! You guys have a great one, and see you this weekend.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First off, I made a mistake in the last chapter. There are only three chapters, but they are still so jammed pack, and it means less reading for you, and the chapters are technically longer, so all is good!**

**Secondly, because of the amount of amazing people that reviewed and favorited and followed this story in approximately 24 hours, I have decided to post this one now, BEFORE THE EPISODE I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! Seriously guys, ask my amazing beta Journalism13 and my Fanfiction Bestie Belle.0416 about how I haven't been able to stop talking about this episode. I am so super duper excited. **

**Once again, thank you all for the wonderful feedback about this story, and for those of you waiting for chapter 2 of _When It Goes South, _have no fear, that will be updated shortly after this update!  
**

**Lucky you guys!**

**Anyways, disclaimer stays the same. I don't own them unfortunately, but for Jay Halstead's sake, it's probably a good thing. I also am not in the medical profession nor do I care to be. So all medical jargon is probably wrong!**

**ENJOY!**

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**CHAPTER 2**

After the getting the information, it only took the unit about thirty minutes to get to the warehouses, but by then it was getting dark and the weather went from 20 degrees to a frigid 4-5 degrees Fahrenheit. Jay stopped complaining about the weather that had started to slowly drop little pellets of snow to the ground. Finally they made it to the row of warehouses that were feet away from just another harbor in Chicago, and it didn't take long for them to search the first building.

And then they started on the second. While it wasn't as windy, the warehouse was still frigid and cold enough to see your breath in, and Jay knew that same fact was on all the other's minds. They cleared the bottom floor and all met back up, then started heading up the stairs, quickly, quietly, and as a unit, when a cry was heard from above. Running into the large, oddly empty upper portions of the warehouse, the unit was met with a sinking sight.

A man twice the weight, and at least a foot taller than Voight stood next to large windows that faced out against the harbor. The window was broken, and in his arms, was Jennifer.

She was pale, scared, and crying and the man was evidently about to jump when he saw the cops. He turned his back to them, so that all they could see of the girl were her legs on one side of the giant body, and her hair swinging wildly on the other. With just a sick flash of a smile over his shoulders, and a few inaudible Spanish words the man jumped, and the team froze for half a second…

… And then Jay ran to the window as well, and without a seconds thought jumped.

The team heard the breaking of ice and splashes moments later, followed by a gunshot. Erin rushed to the window, but could hardly see anything but the dark waters beneath her. Turning, she led the rest of the team down the stairs, and out the doors, over to the railings that looked over the edge, into the waters twenty feet below.

"JAY!" She shouted over.

Moments later, a tiny head popped above the water, gasping for breath, her head bobbing up and down. She sank under again, and it stayed that way for about a minute, the team searching every which way in the water for any sign of the girl, and any sign of their teammate.

Then they saw them. Jennifer's head surfaced first, followed closely by Jays head. She was clinging to his back while he was swimming for the both of them.

"JAY!" Erin shouted again.

Jay slowly looked up at the group, and the majority, despite the fact that visibility was low, and he was 20 feet away, they could see his blue lips and practically hear his chattering teeth.

"E-erin." His head bobbed under for a second and the little girl screamed but it resurfaced and he shook out as much of the water as he could out of his hair again.

Erin didn't trust herself to speak, so she allowed Voight to do the speaking instead.

"Jay, you need to take off the jackets, they are going to weigh you down." Voight said calmly, despite the deadly situation from which the young Jennifer and Jay found themselves in.

Jay smirked up at his boss and he twisted the girl around to his front.

"Th-think I was b-born yest-terday?" He asked, showing off his long sleeve shirt from earlier, no jackets or coats in sight.

Voight watched as an officer from behind him brought over a rope ladder that he quickly swung around the edge and attached to the railings. "Alright, Jay, swim to the ladder, Antonio is going to come down to help with the girl, and then you come up, OK?"

Jay nodded his head, then swam slowly to the wall of cement as Antonio began to rush down the ladder. Antonio grabbed the girl, off of Jays back once the three met, and quickly began to climb back up.

Jay went to grab onto the ladder, but stopped as his hand hit it and then flopped back into the water. He looked up to his boss and slurred out, "Voight, I can't feel my fingers."

Erin helped pull Antonio over the edge along with Jennifer whose own lips were turning blue.

Antonio looked to Erin gravely, "Hypothermia is setting in, he isn't shivering anymore and he is slurring his speech."

Erin wrapped a blanket around Jennifer's body, than allowed an officer to carry her to warmth as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. Voight heard the information as well.

"Come on Halstead, you have to try." Voight yelled down.

"I can't Voight." Halstead slurred again.

He slowly began to sink beneath the surface, but quickly surfaced again as he realized what was happening.

'Shit.' he mumbled to himself.

Or at least he thought. Voight looked down with Erin and Antonio as Jay began to mumble to himself.

"Someone has to go down there to at least keep him afloat. Until rescue squad can get here." Voight said, realizing that the one promise he had made to his team, that everybody was coming home, was being broken.

Antonio volunteered himself as he promptly slipped over the edge again, climbed down the ladder and grabbed onto the backside of Jay's vest, which remained rather light despite being thoroughly soaked.

Halstead shook his head as he felt the hand grab onto his back. He concentrated on breathing, as it became shallower and he could no longer keep his eyes open.

"Come on Jay, stay with me." Antonio asked Halstead as he continued to hold the man afloat.

Jay's eyes shot open as he inhaled some water and he shook his head sluggishly. "I'm t'yin'."

"Well try harder." Antonio joked as he gently turned his friend towards him, grabbing onto the front of his vest instead so that he could make out his eyes. "The girl is going to live. Thanks to your stupid ass decision."

Jay smirked, his eyes once again closed. Antonio shook him, allowing the icy water to lap against himself. He shivered at the touch and couldn't imagine what Jay was going through. A chunk of ice gently collided against the wall by Antonio and he tried to lift the soaked man out of the water, but could only raise him a few inches.

"Jay. You need to stay awake." Antonio began to beg the young man to continue to fight for his own life. Knowing there was only so much he could do from his own positon. "You have to know you have hypothermia. I don't know how it set in so quickly, but you do."

Jay coughed feebly.

"Might be the pneumonia." He stated calmly.

Antonio chuckled then shrugged as well as he could. He could hear the sirens of a fire truck and ambulances up above, and he could see the lights flashing against the building.

"Helps here, OK, just hang tight." Antonio encouraged, knowing it could very well be too late for help, but making sure Jay knew none the less.

Jay didn't respond this time, just nodded his head slightly. Antonio continued talking and Erin and Voight watched from above as the firemen lowered down two harnesses, and a third with a firemen, Kelly Severide, in a divers suit.

Two minutes later, all three men were top side, but by the time, it seemed too late. The firemen laid Jay down on a stretcher, where everyone could finally get an up close view of him. Jay was white as a sheet, his lips and fingertips blue. Gabriela Dawson quickly shed the man of his vest, leaving only his soaked clothes seeping him of his heat, but the medics were quick to cut those off of him, leaving him only in his boxers and shoes. It was around this time, that Jay's heart stopped beating, and his breathing stopped.

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**A/N 2:SO what do you guys think? Ready for the ending of this story? Ready to see if Halstead survives or not? LEt me hear you in the form of a review and or PM, they make me so happy when they blow up my inbox. They are like my Jay to your Lindsay. HAHA, that didn't make sense, oh well.**

**See ya when I see ya.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N 1: So here is the last chapter to this shameless story. The feedback on this story has been amazing and quite near shocking. So many of you all have reached out to me in all forms and told me so many great things that I will ever be able to thank anyone enough for. So thank you!**

**I won't waste too much time on the words you don't want to read and rather let you go ahead and read the words you haven't yet!**

**ENJOY!**

**CHAPTER 3**

Everyone's heart jumped to their throats as they watched the medics intubate, than work on getting his heart restarted. Two tense minutes later, everyone had an internal celebration as the monitor that he somehow got hooked to during the process, began to beep slowly.

After piling blankets on him, the medics shoved him into the ambulance, allowing Antonio to jump in as well as he got himself warm.

The detectives left at the scene quickly, making their way to the hospital where they sat waiting for any word on their ailing team mate. It was over three hours later when a weary doctor walked out of the trauma room with a weary expression on his face.

"Family of Jay Halstead?"

"That would be us." Erin croaked from her position next to the wall.

She along with every cop in the room stood up, watching the doctor expectantly.

"Well, Jay is certainly not out of any danger yet, and we have him situated in the ICU, but we have finally gotten his temperature stabilized, and his vitals stabilized as well." The doctor watched some of the faces around the room take a deep breath, then continued. "Jay was brought in with severe stages of hypothermia as many of you probably know. Because of that, we had to take many measures to bring his body temperature of - " The doctor looked down to his notes that back up again and continued. " - 87 degrees back up. He is lucky to even be alive. Anyways, at the moment he is hooked up to a hemodialysis machine and a heart bypass machine, both of which are taking his blood, taking it out of his body, warming it, then sending it back into him."

"We are also irrigating his lungs, which is hopefully helping his airways as well, seeing as he still cannot breathe by his self. Lastly, we have him hooked up to IV's which are feeding him warm fluids. Besides what I just said, the warm temperature in his room, and the blankets, both warming and not, that we have on him are all helping. Right now, his temperature is up to a 93. Not where is should be, but a definite improvement."

Everyone in the room seemed overwhelmed by the information, but Erin still looked at the doctor as if analyzing him.

"Anything else?" Voight stepped up and asked.

"Yes, not only does Jay have signs of Pneumonia, Jay's heart stopped beating twice after we got him here, but we were able to bring him back both times. Because of the stress on the body, and the pure fact that he just brushed death, I don't expect Detective Halstead to wake up soon, so I do suggest everyone goes home and gets some much deserved sleep." The doctor finished, then walked forwards and shook his Erin's hand. "Plus, visiting hours are over."

With that the doctor left. A few moments later, Antonio walked over to Erin and yawned.

"You heard him, for now Jay is fine, let's go to the precinct, get some of his stuff, finish paperwork, and go. OK?"

Erin nodded slowly, and with that, the detectives walked out of the hospital waiting room, and out of the hospital.

The next day, Erin was at the hospital by nine, and was immediately escorted to Jay's room. Once inside Erin could only hold back a cry at the sight before her.

Jay was wrapped in blankets, and the room alone was easily 10 degrees hotter than other areas of the hospital. His heartbeat was slow and he was as pale as a ghost and he wasn't breathing without the help of the tube down his throat, but he was still alive, and it was the little mercies that she asked for.

The machine breathed once again for him and his eyes remained still, no movement on the other sides of those beauties. She reached underneath the blanket and was taken aback at how hot it was, and then she she felt Halstead himself.

He was cool to the touch, and Erin knew that that shouldn't surprise her, but it did. Feelig her partner at at least a two degree difference was startling.

"Woah man. Doctor's said you would be cooler to the touch, but not that cool." Erin croaked. She looked at the man once again, and noticed only now that band that wrapped around his lower head, keeping the tube that led into his mouth and down his throat straight.

Then she finally acknowledged the sound of the ventilator as it pressed another breath into his lungs. She finally found a freckle on Jay's face and stared at it.

Erin must have fallen into a stupor, because the next time she looked up it was nearly noon again, and someone had knocked on the door. With a slight clearing of the throat, the door opened and Olinksy and Ruzek popped in.

"Voight figured you would be here." Olinsky said as he sat down in the chair beside Erin.

"Yea, well, I have a duty to my partner like you have a duty to yours." Erin responded back. She was slightly confused at why her voice sounded as gravelly as it did, but she didn't put any thought into it.

"Nah, I don't blame you. Neither does he. He did however just want you to know that Jennifer was released today, and her parents are going to stop by and say thanks to Jay as soon as he gets better." Olinsky said smiling encouragingly at Erin.

""You mean if he wakes up?" Erin sighed a little dramatically to cover the fear in her words.

"Her parent's wouldn't take any other answer. He's going to be good. Just you wait." Ruzek finally butt in from the opposite side of the bed.

And wait they did.

Jay woke up two days after nearly dying by drowning. He was alone at the time, Erin having slipped out for a coffee break, and Olinsky had to go to the john. He still wasn't letting anyone let it down. Not even four days later, now that he was off the ventilator and in a private room.

"You ass holes left me here to wake up alone, and you won't even bring me coffee?" Jay scoffed, pulling his jacket closer around his self.

Erin rolled her eyes at her partners dramatics, but let him continue to whine to Ruzek, while she dozed off. A knock on the door startled her awake and she looked up to see Jennifer and her adoptive parents behind her, tears of joy in their eyes.

Erin shot up and walked to the parents, shaking their hands. The parents grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a hug, thanking her for saving their daughter as Jennifer made her way slowly to the bed.

"Officer Halstead?" She asked tentatively.

Jay straightened up in his hospital bed, wincing as he pulled at his still healing arm. "Detective actually, but you can call me Jay."

Jennifer giggled as he smiled his dazzling smile at the little girl as she stood next to his bedside. She turned to her parents before she turned back to Jay and smiled a watery smile of her own. She pulled out a stuffed polar bear with a necklace wrapped around its neck, Jennifer's locket with a picture of herself in it showing clearly against the white fur. She handed it to Jay.

"I got you a polar bear, because the water was really cold that night, and polar bears like the cold, and I got you a picture of me in a necklace so that you will never forget me." Jennifer said, tears rolling down her face slowly.

Jay smiled a broad smile, than leaned forwards further, wrapping the small, frail girl in a hug.

"I love them." Jay whispered in her ear.

"Thank you for saving me." Jennifer whispered back.

**FIN**

**A/N: So, I don't know. I did do a considerable amount of research, and I did have to fudge stuff a little to make it more appealing to us readers, but besides that, I am very proud of this story. It was originally a one shot that was too large, so I split it up and have gotten so much response to this. So I want to continue saying that this wouldn't be nearly as great if it weren't for my beta, Journalism13. It wouldn't be nearly as awesome if it weren't for Belle.0416 either.**

**So thank you all. **

**Last but not least, I am finally going to post the one shot I have been talking about. There have been computer issues that haven't allowed me to do so. Also, with _When It Goes South_ I changed a massive plotline so I am currently back to the drawing board but I would expect chapter 3 sooner or later here!**

**Love you all!**


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